ARIZONA DAILY WILDCATwildcat.arizona.edu The University of Arizona, TucsonThursday, January 20, 2005

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Protesters plan to convene at Old Main thisafternoon to march in an Inauguration Dayprotest sponsored by 30 Tucson organizationsincluding Refuse and Resist, Tucson Peace ActionCoalition and the UA Young Democrats.

The protesters plan to assemble at 3:30 p.m. atthe Old Main fountain and walk to the FederalBuilding, 300 W. Congress St., for a rally at 5 p.m.

Tariq Rahman, a political science junior andmember of Refuse and Resist who helped organ-ize the event, said he expects between 500 and2,000 people to show up to the march.

Once the protesters reach the Federal Buildingthere will be poetry readings, performance artand an open microphone for speeches, he said.

Scheduled speakers include political sciencegraduate student Greg Knehans and JulianKunnie, director of African American Studies.

Alicia Cybulski, president of UAYD, said thegroup is participating in the protest to show theirunity with fellow Tucsonans who support theirgoals.

“We want to make sure issues important to usare still listened to and taken into consideration,”said Cybulski, a political science senior. “Justbecause the elections are over doesn’t mean thereshouldn’t be demonstrations of goals and ideas.”

Danielle Roberts, UA College Republicanspresident, said the club will not address the inau-guration protest march, but will hold a celebra-tion at Gentle Ben’s, 865 E. University Blvd., thisevening to view the inauguration speech on tele-vision.

REFLECTING ON DISASTER Studentsto protestswearingin of Bush

JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily WildcatTucsonan Anne Burns bows her head in remembrance of those left dead, injured or homeless in the wake of Dec. 26 tsunami during last night’s can-dlelight vigil held on the UA Mall. The event was a multi-faith memorial service setup through the efforts of the Sri Lankan Student Association.

Tsunami victims honored in vigil

More than 50 people wentout to the UA Mall last nightto attend a candlelight vigil tohonor the victims of thetsunami in Southeast Asia andhear speakers from differentreligions.

The vigil was organized bythe Association of Sri Lankansat the UA and featured speak-

ers from various religiousgroups including Islamic,Buddhist, Presbyterian,Jewish and Bahai Faith.Representatives from eachgroup offered their stories andinsights on how they are deal-ing with the catastrophe andalso to offer hope to the com-munity.

Pinnaduwa Kulatilake,geotechnical engineering pro-fessor, opened the vigil with a

scientific look at the mechan-ics of the tsunami and com-mented on the victims.

“These people need psy-cho-social assistance. Praythat people get assistance andhave a strong mind to copewith this difficult situation,”Kulatilake said.

Azad, director of theIslamic Center of Tucson, saidMuslims greet each other with“peace be with you,” and

said, in a time like this, it isimportant to recognize howpeople treat each other andthe state of the world.

“The element of good ismore than the element of evil.Goodness is the rule, evil isthe exception,” Azad said.

Rev. Arjahn Sarayut of theDhammaratanaram BuddhistTemple offered his own words

Robert Bechtel,a UA psycholo-gy professor. isseen with hisdaughter inDecember 2004.Bechtel was atthe legislaturein Phoenix yes-terday testifyingabout an anti-bullying bill.

FILE PHOTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat

PHOENIX — The UA professorwho told his class two months ago heshot and killed a student while in col-lege testified at the Capitol yesterdayin favor of a bill to eliminate bullying.

Robert Bechtel, psychology profes-sor, told his classes Nov. 17 he was thevictim of bullying from age 4 throughcollege. In January 1955, he brought agun to his residence hall atSwarthmore College in Pennsylvania,with the intention of shooting every-one who lived there.

After killing one student, Bechtelstopped shooting and turned himself

into police later that day. In April1955, he was admitted to FairviewState Hospital for the CriminallyInsane. He stayed there for almostfive years. When he was discharged,he was tried and acquitted for themurder, with a verdict of not guiltyby reason of insanity.

Bechtel, who started teaching atthe UA in 1976, told the ArizonaHouse of Representatives K-12Education Committee yesterday thatthe passage of HB2368, a school dis-trict governing board bill that wouldrequire documentation and investiga-tion of incidents of harassment, intim-idation and bullying, was of utmostimportance.

Bechtel told the committee his his-tory of being bullied and how hefinally acted on his aggression andshot a student in the hall. He encour-aged the committee to pass the bill to

help stop what he called a “universalproblem.”

The committee passed the bill yes-terday by a vote of 7-2. Before the billbecomes a law, it must pass throughand be approved by the House RulesCommittee and the House ofRepresentatives. Then it will be sentto the Senate to go through the sameprocess. If it passes in both the Houseand Senate, Gov. Janet Napolitanocan choose whether to sign the billinto law.

The bill is sponsored by Rep.David Bradley, D-Tucson, and wasproposed to him last year by a groupof students from Mansfeld MiddleSchool, 1300 E. Sixth St.

“The goal is to get people to realizethat this is real,” Bradley said.

Bechtel said 90 percent of the pop-

Prof. helps to push anti-bullying bill past committeeAfter being bullied,prof. shot man in ‘55

By Andrea KellyARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT

By Cassie TomlinARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT

By Alex GrubbARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT

See BECHTEL/10

See VIGIL/8 See PROTEST/8